Senators Question FCC’s High-Speed Internet Requirements

Six GOP senators wrote to FCC chairman Tom Wheeler this week to express their concern that the commission has set an overly ambitious benchmark for broadband internet speeds.

As first reported by The Hill, the senators – who include Steve Daines (R-MT), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Ron Johnson (R-WI), and Cory Gardner (R-CO) – called the speed requirement was “arbitrary” and said it “fails to accurately capture what most Americans consider broadband.”

The senators further stated that they were aware of “few applications that require download speeds of 25 mbps” before pointing out that Netflix and Amazon only require download speeds of 5 mbps and 3.5 mbps, respectively.

The letter is a reference to the FCC’s decision early last year to change the definition of broadband from a download speed of 4 mbps to a minimum of 25 mbps. Cable companies largely balked at the shift, despite the fact that most already offered speeds in excess of the requirement.

According to the senators, the existence of a benchmark that triggers more regulation could prove to be a disincentive for providers to offer higher speeds. The group also criticized the FCC for having disparate requirements for urban versus rural broadband.

As pointed out by Ars Technica, however, the senators’ argument that there is a dearth of use cases requiring higher speeds seems to operate under the assumption that a home’s broadband Internet connection is being utilized by only one device running one application at a time.

The letter comes a week ahead of a scheduled vote on whether to move ahead with the 2016 Broadband Progress Report as written. 

Source: CED